SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES

Social media websites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter have become the most popular destinations on the Internet, with two out of three Americans using social media sites, which translates into 63.7% of U.S. Internet users, or about 147.8 million people (eMarketer 2011). Of many social networking sites available on the Web, Facebook is the most popular, with more than 750 million users and 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums) shared each month (Facebook 2011). As a virtual social media platform, Facebook offers an easy, cost-effective way for both profit and nonprofit sectors to communicate any information, promote their products and services, and build brand communities. For example, an increasing number of health organizations have come up with Facebook health applications that allow users to keep track of their exercise and diet goals (Donohue 2009) and coordinate their exercise plans (Dugan 2010).

Facebook is best used for media relations outreach when we have an existing relationship with a journalist or blogger. If this is our first time reaching out to the journalist, use a different medium such as phone, email (the most preferred channel by journalists), Twitter or LinkedIn. If we also have a lot of personal relationships with journalists, Facebook can be an excellent medium for brainstorming story angles with media or PR friends.

We should also regularly share information about our work through status updates and it just might find that journalists and bloggers will reach out to us for stories. This approach to inbound media relations is becoming more effective as more journalists and bloggers use social networks to research sources for stories. More than 70 percent of journalists use social networks to assist with reporting, so it’s more important than ever that our organization have some presence on sites like Facebook, particularly if we have an active media relations program. The benefits of Facebook Groups and Facebook Pages throughout this post, consider sharing our news, story ideas and other relevant company information through these channels as mini versions of our online newsroom that we never know which journalists or bloggers will discover us on Facebook.

If we’re just starting a group, or looking for a more cost-effective tool for managing communications to our members, posting an events calendar, or providing additional networking benefits for our members, Facebook Groups is an excellent option and it falls in the “PR” category. Other than that, if work as part of a corporate communications team, we might consider starting our own Facebook Group around a particular industry topic particularly if there are no groups in our local area. For example, let’s say you work in non-profit PR and you want a group dedicated to topics of importance to non-profit PR professionals, you could start one.

There are a lot of reasons Facebook Groups can be a powerful tool for marketing and growing group. For starters, it’s free. There are more than 350 million active Facebook users around the world, so chances are pretty good there are other users with similar interests who would be willing to join our group. Other services like MeetUp, Upcoming and EventBrite provide some similar and some alternative options depending on our needs, we may want to check out other options.

Facebook Pages (a.k.a. “Fan Pages”) is one of the most brilliant ideas to come out of the Facebook camp. Create a page around the organization, product, service, group, artist, etc. and manage all the marketing through this channel. Facebook Pages are powerful tools for building affinity with consumers, providing a direct link between the organization and their brand. There are three great example of Facebook Pages such as AirAsia, TV3 and Cimb Bank.

The bottom line on Facebook impact on PR is that we are no longer just rely on our website, press releases or blanket pitches as our PR power tools. Now, everyone is overwhelmed with information and we better off reaching audiences where they are most likely to respond or where they will be looking for our information when the timing is right. Thus, Facebook is the only one of many social media channels that we should consider as part of our PR arsenal these days.